The new Danny Cipriani, restored to the England setup after an absence of six years, is more likely to be seen with the book Blink than bling and his idea of a good night out is more Discovery Channel than disco. At 26, a player who was described as English rugby’s next big thing when he was breaking through at Wasps, has found himself.

As he spent a night in hospital under observation for concussion, Cipriani reflected that his senior career was approaching its halfway point and he was in danger of frittering it away. He got in touch with Steve Black, the former Wales, Lions and Newcastle conditioning coach, a motivator with a unique take on life who had long been Jonny Wilkinson’s mentor.

“My agent put me in touch with Steve and I went to meet him,” Cipriani says. “We ended up chatting for three hours, speaking about everything from rugby to boxing to life. I came away thinking: ‘This is someone I can see in my corner and he wants to be.’ My consistency this season has been the [result of] work I have done with Steve and the way everyone in Sale responded to the disappointments of last year.

“Steve highlighted to me the need to make a conscious effort, whether it be drinking water or cooking your own food and having the correct diet which puts you in the right shape and makes you fitter. You go to training with the right energy and it is about adding up all the little bits away from the field. He gives me a good book to read and then we talk about it and work out what lessons can be absorbed. We watch documentaries and other sports such as boxing and he keeps my mind working the whole time, making me aware of the fact that I am a professional 24 hours a day.”

Cipriani sees Black once a week and they speak on the phone almost every day. They can be seen browsing in bookshops and part of Cipriani’s entertainment on the flight to New Zealand was a psychology book by Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. One of its arguments, which may not impress the England head coach Stuart Lancaster, is that in an age of information overload, snap judgments are usually better than decisions made after hours of analysis. Spontaneity triumphs over planning.

“Steve and I will often spend 45 minutes in Waterstones,” Cipriani says. “I have just read Sugar Ray Leonard’s book and Steve recommends anything he feels will be beneficial to me. I had mentors early in my career in Shaun Edwards and Brian Ashton, but there was a period when I did not have one.”

That was in the past and the man Cipriani needs to impress now is Lancaster, who was with the Saxons back in 2009 when Cipriani made a bad impression having been dropped from the senior squad after a falling-out with the management. The way Lancaster talked last week, Freddie Burns begins the tour as the leading fly-half, before the arrival of Owen Farrell for the second Test, but his decision on who starts on Saturday will be based largely on what he sees in training. The head coach wants to see for himself that Cipriani has changed.

“It was exciting to wear the red rose again, but that feeling only lasted 10 seconds because it was only the beginning and I had to focus on the task ahead,” Cipriani says. “I am in an environment where I want to improve as much as I can, returning home a better player. Everyone changes at some point as they get older. When you are 20 and life seems to be going pretty easy, you go with it, I guess. I was part of a strong Wasps team where I was always on the front foot and life felt like that. I have had to overcome obstacles to get where I am now.”

As he speaks, he reveals the words of a tattoo on his arm: “The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.”